THE

APOCRYPHAL

CORRESPONDENCE

AND THE

BETWEEN

PAUL

CORINTHIANS
BY

A. F. J. KLIJN
INTRODUCTION

1.

and the
Apart from the well known epistles to the Laodiceans
Alexandrians
which go under Paul's name, but which were written
we possess an
by the Marcionites
according to Canon Muratori,
between
Paul
and
the Corincorrespondence
equally apocryphal
thians. This correspondence
consists of three parts:
I. a letter
written by the Corinthians
to Paul with a number of questions,
II. a story about those taking the message and its receipt by Paul
who is in prison at that time, and III, a letter written by Paul
with the answers on the questions raised by those in Corinth.
was only known in
Up to a few years ago this correspondence
Latin, Armenian and Coptic. Since, however, a text of this correspondence has been published in its original Greek form in 1959,
we may re-open the discussion with regard to the many questions
raised by it.
2.

THE TRADITION OF THE TEXT OF THE CORRESPONDENCE

a.

The Armenian

Text

The correspondence
of the
is found in a number of manuscripts
New Testament.
P. Vetter has tried to restore the original Armenian
version with help of 11Armenian
mss. This text has been translated
into Germans
are
the
three
Usually
parts of the correspondence
1-16
III
but
a
ms
in
omits
I
and
1-10.
available,
Smyrna
b.

The Latin

This text

Text

is available

in five different

manuscripts:

1 The Armenian text in P. Vetter, Der apokryphe dritte Korintherbrief.

in: Tiibinger Universittsschriften 1893/94, p. 41-52. The German translation
in P. Vetter, Der apokryphe dritte Korintherbrief, in : Theol. Quartalschr..
73 (1890), p. 610-639, p. 615-624. A French translation in A. Carriere
S. Berger, La correspondance apocryphe de Saint Paul et les Corintlziens, in :
Rev. de Thgol. et de Phil. 24 (1891), p. 333-351, p. 347-351.
....--. F .........-..
2

3
(sometimes:
M) in a ms of the bible written in the tenth
now in Milan, without II.2
century,
L2 (sometimes:
L) in a ms of the bible written in the thirteenth
now
in
without 11.3
Laon,
century,
P on two separate pages from a codex written in the thirteenth
I and 11.4
century, now in Paris, without
Z on some separate pages from a codex of the bible from the
tenth century, now in Ziirich without III.5
B in a ms of the bible written in the thirteenth
century, now in
Berlin without TI.6
Ll

c. The Commentary of Ephrem Syrus on the Pauline Epistles

The correspondence
is also dealt with in Ephrem's
commentary
on the Pauline
Epistles which is only known in the Armenian
The Armenian
text has been published
language.
by the Mechiof this comtarists in 1836 .? They published a Latin translation
in
The
was
1893.8
translated
into
German
correspondence
mentary
9 and S.
P.
Vetter
The
three
are
available.
Kanajanz.10
parts
by
2 See Carriere-Berger, art. c., and the review by Harnack in Theol.
Litera.turz. 17 (1892), c. 2-4.
3 E. Bratke, Erin zweiter lateinischer Text des apokryphen Briefweclzsels
zwischen dem Apostel Paulus und den Korinthern, in: Theol. Literaturz. 17
(1892), c. 585-588. The mss Li and L2 also in A. Harnack, Untersuch.ungen
iiber den apokryphen Brie f wechselder Korinther mit dem Apostel Paulus, in :
Sitz.be,r. Preuss. Akad. der Wissensch. 1905, p. 3-35. It appears that L1
is a literal translation of a Greek text. L2 shows better Greek and goes
back to a better Greek ms, but it was written with help of Li.
4 D. de Bruyne, Un nouveau manuscrit de la troisime lettre de Saint
PauL aux Corinthiens, in: Rev. Bndict. 25 (1908), p. 431-434.
5 D. de Bruyne, Un quatrime manuscrit latin de la correspondance
apocryphe de S'aint Paul avec les Corinthiens, in : Rev. Bndict. 45 (1933),
p. 189-195.
6 H. Boese, Uber eine bisher uyabekannte Handschrift des Brielwech8el8
zwischen Paulus und den Korinthern, in : Zeitschr. neut. Wissensch. 44 ( 1952/
/
53), p. 66-76. In the mss in which we find P, Z and B we also find the apocryphal epistle to the Laodiceans.
7 Published as part III of the works of Ephrem in Armenian, Venice.
8 S. E'phraemi Syri commentarii in epistolas D. Pauli nunc primum ex Arm.
in Lat. serm. a patribus Mekithari.stis translati, Venetiis 1893, p. 117-124.
9 See articles quoted (n. 1) in Theol. Quarta.Lschr.,p. 627-639, and Tb1:nger
Universittsschr., p. 70-79.
lo In Th. Zahn, Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons II 2, ErlangenLeipzig 1892, p. 595-606.

4
The Coptic Text
This text is available in the fragments
left of the Coptic translation of the Acts of Paul written in the sixth century. The three
parts are available.li
d.

e.

The Greek Text

This text has been discovered among the Bodmer-Papyri

(numhas been dated to the third century.
ber X). The manuscript
Part II is not available.12
From this summary it can be seen that the contents are deviating
in the different versions and texts. Sometimes II is available (Arm.,
Z, Ephr., Copt.), sometimes it is missing (Lj, L2, P, B, Gr.). An
can be found in III, where sometimes the verses
other deviation
14, 22-23, 35 are available
(Arm., Li, P, B) and sometimes they
are missing (Ephr., L2, Gr.).
Finally it appears that:
the correspondence
was part of the New Testament
in Syria
(see Ephrem's
commentary),
the correspondence
was part of the Armenian New Testament,
the correspondence
was part of the Acts of Paul written roundabout the year 1 i 0,
the correspondence
was known as a separate writing in Egypt
in the third century.
3.

THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE INQUIRIES INTO THE TEXT

was only known in the Armenian

Originally the correspondence
and
from
For this reason it was
Ephrem's
language
commentary.
that
the
supposed
correspondence
originated from Syria and that it
was written against the followers of Bardaisan.
The last supposition is in accordance with Ephrem's remarks in his comInentary,13
influence 14 until the discovery of
This idea gained wide-spread
11 C. Schmidt, Acta Pauli, Leipzig 1904, p. 73-82.
12 Papyrus Bodmer X-XII, publi par M. Testuz, Bibliotheca Bodmeriana 1959, p. 30-45.
13 Vetter, in: Theol. Quartalschr., p. 611-612, and Tiib. Univer8itat88chr.,
p. 17-20.
14 Though Carriere in Carri6re-Bei-ger, art. c., was justified in accepting
a Greek basis for the Armenian translation, we see that Harnack, Geschichte
der altchristlichen Literatur, Leipzig 19582, I I, p. 39, and E. Rollfs, in:

5
Latin mss of the correspondence.
Though some tried to prove
from the Syriac version,15
that the Latin text had been translated
was originally
the Coptic version showed that the correspondence
in
Greek
and
that
the
Latin
translation
was
based on a
written
has been definitively proved by the
Greek text.16 This supposition
of a Greek version.
discovery
was only known in Armenian
At the time that the correspondence
Zahn supposed
Th.
that the
and from Ephrem's
commentary,
was
of
the
Acts
of
Paul,!7
He
based
originally part
correspondence
was corrothis idea on the descriptive
part II. This supposition
of the Acts
borated by the discovery of a number of fragments
the correspondence.
of Paul which also contained
Since in the newly found Greek version part II is missing the
question has been raised whether I and III form an independent
writing which was added to the Acts of Paul at a later date.18 In
this article we shall deal with this matter.
From this summary it appears that the inquiries into the correare mainly limited to the tradition
of the text. The
spondence
have
of
the
been
to
a superficial incontents
writing
subjected
only,19 We also like to deal with this subject.
vestigation
E. Hennecke, Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, '1'ubingen 19242, p. 195, both
influenced by Vetter, supposed a Syriac origin. Even Zahn, who supposed
a Greek origin in Geschichte, p. 609, rejected this opinion ibid., p. 1016-1019.
15 Vetter, Tiib. Universittsschr., p. 9-12, tries to show some Syriasms
in the Latin text. They have to be ascribed to a lack of knowledge of the
Latin language on the part of the scribe of Li.
16 Especially Harnack became convinced of a Greek origin of the correspondence. He even tried to retranslate the Coptic version into Greek,
Untersuchungen.
17 Zahn, Geschichte, p. 606-611. Though Harnack, Geschichte I I, p. 39
and II I, p. 506, was still convinced that the correspondence was an independent writing, he tried to prove in Untersuchungen that is was originally
part of the Acts of Paul. For this reason he pointed to a number of parallels
in the correspondence land the Acts. C. Schmidt-W. Schubart, Acta PcxuLi,
1936, p. 122-123, pointed to parallels between the
Gluckstadt-Hamburg
correspondence and the Greek fragments of the Acts of Paul.
18 See Testuz, o.c., p. 23-25, and M. Testuz, La correspondance apocryphal
de Saint Paul et les Corinthiens, in : Litterature et Thgologie Pauliniennes,
in: Rech. B-ibl. V, Desel6e do Brouwer 1960.
19 We may point to the following studies: M. Muretow, Uber den apokryphen Briefwechsel des Apostels Paulus mit den Korinthern, in : Theol.

6
4.

THE CONTENTS OF THE CORRESPONDENCE

The letter written by the Corinthians

and sent by Stephan (cf.
I Cor. 1, 16 and 16, 15 and 17) and four elders says that Simon
and Cleobius have arrived in Corinth with false teachings.
The
Corinthians hope that Paul is able to help them in their difficulties.
In the second part of the epistle the teachings are summed up as
follows: "They say that one must not use the prophets,
nor that
God is almighty,
nor that a resurrection
of the flesh exists, nor
that the creation of men is by God, nor that the Lord has come
into the flesh, nor that He is born of Mary, nor that the world
is of God, but of angels".
In the second part (II) it is said that the epistle was taken to
and Eutychus.
Paul receives the epistle in
Philippi by Threptus
he
is
but he writes his answer.
distress
since
emprisoned,
great
Paul writes that he has handed down that which he had received
from the apostles, namely that Jesus is born from Mary because
of the Holy Spirit which was sent to her from the Father in heaven
to save all flesh and that man has been created by his Father.
God the almighty has sent prophets to the Jews who were provided
with parts of the Spirit of Christ and who taught the true religion.
The ruler (aexwv) has bound all flesh, but the almighty God has
sent the Spirit to Mary in order to defeat the evil one by the same
flesh in which the evil one lived. Finally a few examples of the
resurrection
of the flesh are given. He speaks about the seed of
that
grain
grows clothed with a body (cf. I Cor. 15, 37), about
the history of Jonah and about the story of the grave of Elisah
(cf. II Ki. 13, 21). The epistle closes with the order to keep to the
and the
rule which they had received by way of the prophets
gospel.
Boten 1896 (not available), who identified the false teaching with that
of Simon Magus. A. Berendts, Zur Christologie des apokryphen 3. Korintherbriefes, in : Abhandl. A. v. Oettingen, Mnchen 1898, p. 1-28, who considers
III Cor. with Hermas and II Clement representatives of a pneumatic christology. F. Loofs, Theophilus von Antiochien adversus Marcionem, in : Texte
u. Unters. 44 (1930), p. 148-157, supposes a "Geistchristologie" for both
the correspondence and the Acts of Paul. M. Rist, Pseudepigraphic Refutations off Marcionism, in : Journ. o f Religion 22 (1942), p. 36-62, supposed
that Marcion and Apelles were rejected in the correspondence.

7
5.

THE GREEK TEXT COMPARED WITH THE TRANSLATIONS

Generally speaking it can be said that the Greek text does not
show many readings which are not known already from other
texts. However, we like to point to the following variant readings:
I 3-4 reads: "For we have not heard such words neither from
you nor from the other ones". All other texts show the reading
"the other apostles" in stead of "the other ones". The Greek text
must be original. This text appears to be in agreement with Paul's
with the twelve apostles. Nor in I neither
position in comparison
in III Paul is called by the name "apostle".
It can even be said
that a sharp distinction
is made between Paul and the apostles,
as appears from III 4: "For I have handed down to you from the
beginning which I also received from the apostles who have been
with Jesus before me all the time". Paul is dependent
on the
has
I
The
been
Cor.
11, 23,
apostles.
obviously
inspired by
passage
but the correspondence
gives a position to Paul quite different
from that which Paul gave to himself, since it reads "the apostles"
in place of "the Lord". This position, however, is in agreement
with the one given to him in the early church in which the twelve
at the cost of Paul.2
apostles become more and more important
The "other ones" mentioned in this passage can be compared with
those about whom Paul speaks in I Cor. 3, 10: "... I
laid a foundation, and another one is building upon it".
I 7-8 reads: "... come either yourself because we believe,
as has been revealed to Theonoe that the Lord has saved you
from the hand of the lawless one - or answer us". In this passage
to come,
we find three different parts:
2. an
1. an invitation
information
about Theonoe, and 3. a question to answer. In the
we find the three parts in the following order :
manuscripts
Arm.
: 3-1-2
'
Z and Li
: defective
: 1-3-2
L2
: 1-2
Copt.
B and
1-2-3 21
Ephr.:
20 See J. Wagemann, Die Stellung des Apostels Paulus neben den Zwblf,
in: Beih. Zeitschr. neut. Wissensch. 3 (1926), p. 18-186.
21 The text of B and Ephrem are not fully identical with the Greek.
It is remarkable that both deviate in the same way. Breads : 6 ... et a te

8
In order to find the original text we have to consider several
things. If we start from the Greek text which is also found in B
and Ephr., we may suppose that Arm. and L2 try to put the alternatives side by side (Greek: 1j-ij). In addition to this the Armenian
text combined the question to come with the revelation to Theonoe.
This means that Arm. and L2 are secondary to Gr.-Ephr.-B.
Next
we have to compare Copt. with Gr.-Ephr.-B.
Copt.
Undoubtedly
renders a more difficult reading. One wonders why the question
to write a letter has been omitted since Paul actually has written
an answer.
This means that Gr.-Ephr.-B
seem to be secondary
to Copt. This is corroborated
by the end of the epistle which
speaks only of Paul's visit to Corinth (vs 16): "Therefore,
brother,
make haste to come here, so that the church of the Corinthians
remains without
offence and the stupidity
of these (men) may
come to light". If Gr.-Ephr.-B
are supposed to be original, one
has to accept that the question to write in vs. 7-8 has been omitted
under the influence of vs. 16. Since, however, vs. 7-8 precedes
vs. 16, we doubt whether this can be maintained.
For this reason
we believe that Copt. has the original reading in this passage.
III 13 reads: "(God) sent His Spirit bid 7veo'g into Mary the
Galilean". The words <5tanve can be found nowhere else. Ephrem,
however, seems to know a text with those or similar words, because
he writes after "Spirit" the words "totally warm"
It
that
these
words
are
not
clear
to
because
appears
quite
Ephrem,
in his commentary
he says "this means 'quickly"'.
The Coptic
is not available
in this passage. Though we shall deal with the
passage presently we may accept that the Greek version is original.
There seems to be sufficient reason to omit the words because of
their difficulty.
The words "Mary the Galilean"
can be found
and
P
read
"in
Galilea".
Also
here
the Greek
L1
nowhere, though
text seems to be original. This again is corroborated
by the Acts
of Paul where we find the same as in the Greek version.22 Since
iterum audiamus. 7. per epistolam aut te ipso adveniente. 8. credirnus ...
aut rescribe nobis (the new verse must not begin with audiamus, as in in
the edition of Boese, but after epistolam !). Ephrem: "But therefore the
Lord had mercy ..., that ... we should hear of you once again the things
which we heard of you orally. Either come ... we believe ... or write ...".
22 Published by C. Schmidt-W. Schubart, o.c.

9
the passage in the Acts is of importance
for a number of other
deviations in the text, we give the whole passage (p. 8, r. 25-28):

J
,
,
,
.. - . ,
Xeunov....
Apart from the words "the Galilean" which is found
here and in the correspondence,
we also see that this passage is
the source of vs. 14, which, as we said, can be found in some mss.
The verse reads in Li, B and Arm. (according to B): quae ex totis
credidit accepitque in utero spiritum
sanctuon, ut in
praecordiis
saecitlum prodiret Jesus. The Armenian version has been influenced
by the same passage in vs. 13: "And He sent the Holy Spirit into
the virgin at the end of times as it has been described
by the
before". Here we find the words dn' EQxazcov xacoow and
prophets
xata T6V 7tooTqTtx6v yov. This means that the Acts of Paul influenced the contents of the correspondence.
III 22-23 is an addition in Li, B and Arm. reading: "For you
are not sons of the disobedience, but children of the beloved church.
Therefore has been preached the time of the resurrection
(Arm.:
2
6
that
and
influenced
We
2,
5,
Eph.
may suppose
among all)".
the text.
III 24 rendered some difficulties because it was said in the original
for those who deny the resurtext that there will be no resurrection
rection of the flesh. Therefore one finds in Li : illis non erit resurrection
can be found
in vitam, sed in
iudicium eius. The same alterations
in in B, P and Arm., though Ephr. and Copt. are more or less in
with the Greek text.
agreement
III 33 in Li, B and Arm. one finds besides the three examples
of the flesh the raising of the son of the widow
of the resurrection
of Sarfat by Eliah.
it appears that the text was altered now
From this summary
and then. It appears, however, that these alterations
are not very
For lack of variant readings it is impossible to trace
important.
the history of the text, though it appears that Gr. and Copt.
usually render the best text.

10
6.

THE RELATION BETWEEN THE CORRESPONDENCE AND THE

ACTS OF PAUL

was part of the

We need not repeat that the correspondence
Acts of Paul. This is not only proved by the Coptic fragments of
the Acts of Paul, but also by the influence of some passages in
the Acts on the correspondence
(cf. III 14). But we still have to
answer the question whether the author of the Acts of Paul is
for the correspondence
or whether he made use of an
responsible
already existing writing.
In order to answer this question we are going to compare the
with the Acts of Paul. We shall do this in three
correspondence
ways. First we compare the contents of the Acts and the correin
Next we look at the place of the correspondence
spondence.
the Acts of Paul as a whole. Finally we investigate
some parallel
in order to find out
passages in the Acts and the correspondence
their relationship.
knows one theme only: the
It appears that the correspondence
of
the
or
rather:
the
of creation.
flesh,
significance
significance
it
On theological and christological
is
grounds
proved that God is
the creator of the world and of man and that the flesh will rise.
If we compare this theme with the Acts of Paul it can not be
denied that this theme is also met in the Acts. In the Acts of Paul
and Thecla we meet Demas and Hermogenes
as Paul's main opponents both preaching that the resurrection
has taken place already
(c. 14, cf. II Tim. 2, 18). In this part Paul's preaching is characterized in the following way: yo 6sov nsel 8'yxea-retag xat vaa7:aEW
it can not be said that the Acts
(c. 5, cf. also c. 12). Nevertheless
were written to refute those who denied the resurrection.
Paul is
as
a
that
abstinence
is
the
depicted
missionary teaching
beginning
of a new life. This difference, however, is not sufficient to prove
that the Acts and the correspondence
were written by two different
authors.
We can even say that a similarity
in contents is to be
an already
expected. Even if the author of the Acts incorporated
into
he
would
it
his
have
done
work,
existing writing
only if he
was able to agree with its doctrine.
can be
Next we look at the place in which the correspondence
found. In the Coptic papyrus-fragments
of the Acts of Paul we
find something
about Paul's stay in Philippi (p. 45-49). Paul is

11
Next we read that messengers are sent from Corinth
emprisoned.
to Paul with a letter. Then follows the correspondence.
The end
of III is not available since this part is badly mutilated.
For what
after Paul's stay in Philippi we have to depend on the
happened
Greek papyrus-fragments
in which we find on p. 6: "From Philippi
to Corinth".
This means that Paul went to Corinth after his emin Philippi. In the Greek fragments
we read that in
prisonment
which happened in Philippi (fragCorinth Paul relates everything
ments of it on p. 41-43 of the Coptic text also). At this moment
it is not necessary to go into Paul's story, but it is surprising to
see that in the Greek text the entire episode in Philippi is missing.
The passage starting with "From Philippi to Corinth" is preceded
of Paul's stay in Ephesus.
by a description
This means that in the Coptic text we find something
about
the circumstances
was written
among which the correspondence
and that in the Greek text we find something about Paul's adventures after his departure
from Philippi.
The difficulty, however,
is that the Greek text omits the part about Paul's stay in Philippi.
Before we continue our investigation
we have to deal with this
omission.
The reason for the omission may be that in the original Acts
Paul's stay in Philippi was missing. If we accept this supposition
we are able to infer that the correspondence
was added to the
text at a later date, provided with a frame dealing with Paul's
work in Philippi. This may be attractive,
but this idea is contradicted by the words at the beginning of the episode in Corinth:
"From Philippi to Corinth".
There is no reason to deny that in
the copy used by the writer of the Greek papyri of the Acts of Paul
about Paul's work in Philippi was found. The contents
something
of this description
are unknown. This means that we have to supBut
omitted.
pose that the episode in Philippi was deliberately
the editor of the Greek papyrus-fragments
why? C. Schmidt
that the omission is due to the fact that roundabout
supposed
the
time
to which the fragments go back, the correspondence
300,
was already known in an independent
form.23 Though this cannot
be denied since the discovery of the correspondence
in a manuscript
23 See Schmidt-Schubart,

o.c., p. 98.

12
of the third century, we wonder whether this is sufficient reason
to omit the whole passage about Philippi. The only reason can be
the text. This is in agreement
that the Greek text summarized
with the development
of the text of the Acts of Paul which shows
a tendency to break up in different small parts which were separately published
(cf. Acta Pauli et Theclae and onartyriuon).
Now we shall consider the context in which the correspondence
is found in the Acts of Paul.
we read something
On p. 45 and 46 of the Coptic fragments
in which the correspondence
about the circumstances
was written.
feared
that
Paul would die. This
It appears that those in Corinth
since Simon and Cleobius have arrived teaching that
especially,
"There is no resurrection
of the flesh, but of the Spirit only, and
that the body of man is not a creation of God and also the world
has not been created by God, and that God does not know the
world, and that Jesus Christ was not crucified, but was an appearance, and that He was not born of Mary nor of the seed of David".
that the epistle is sent to Paul we find the
After the statement
its three parts.
with
correspondence
The discrepancy
about the ideas in Corinth with regard to Paul's
is remarkfuture between the introduction
and the correspondence
able. In the introduction
we find (p. 45, 8-11): "The Corinthians
were in great distress concerning Paul that he would leave the world
before it was his time". In I 8 (the epistle of the Corinthians
to
we
read
:
I...
we
believe
as
has
been
revealed
to
Theonoe,
Paul)
that the Lord saved you from the hand of the lawless one". This
means that the expectations
with regard to Paul's life are quite
different. In the epistle one hopes that Paul will come to Corinth.
Striking is the reference to Theonoe. It seems that the correspondence points to a revelation
known to the readers of the Acts of
but
we
do
not
know
Paul,
anything of such a revelation,
though
in the Acts of Paul many similar revelations
are met.24
24 On p. 31 (Coptic, ed. Schmidt, p. 54) an angel reveals that Paul will
be protected. On p. 51 (Coptic, ed. Schmidt, p. 82; Greek, p. 6, 27-30, ed.
Schmidt-Schubart,
p. 47) a certain Cleobius reveals that Paul has to go
to another city. On p. 52 (Coptic ed., Schmidt p. 83, Greek, p. 7, 3-8, ed.
Schmidt-Schubart,
p. 50-51) Myrte reveals that Paul will save many in
the city of Rome.

13
can be pointed to between the summary of
No great discrepancies
and in the epistle. Nevertheless
false teaching in the introduction
in
which are not dealt with
the
introduction
we find some matters
in the epistle. Thus we do not find anything about the resurrection
In the epistle we do
of the spirit and Jesus being an appearance.
not find anything about the nature of Jesus' death. It may be of
that it is said in the epistle:
slVal zov xdupov
some importance
we
find:
"and
the world also,
0soo (I 15). In the introduction
that God did not create it and that God does not know the world".
clarifies a somewhat
It may be that the introduction
difficult
in
the
which
was
found
epistle.
passage
in Corinth after Paul's
to see what happened
It is important
arrival from Philippi. This is related on p. 6 and 7 of the Greek
It is remarkable
that nothing is said about the false
papyrus.
that this was not necessary anyC.
Schmidt
supposed
teachings.
more since Paul had written his letter.25 We do not think that this
is acceptable. It is strange to note that Paul is preaching
explanation
that we do not
about steadfastness
(6, 11-22). It also remarkable
'
meet the names of those who wrote the letter or brought
it to .,I
that a man called Cleobius reveals
Paul. It is even more remarkable
in the Spirit that Paul has to proceed on his journey (7, 28-30).
If we remember that Cleobius arrived in Corinth with false teachings
it is hardly possible to imagine that one writer is responsible for
the correspondence
and the description
of the events in Corinth.
The result of this comparison is that there are reasons to suppose
\'
was not written by the same author as
that the correspondence
'
the Acts of Paul.
Finally we like to point to passages which can be found both
and the Acts of Paul.
in the correspondence
In the Acts of Paul and Thecla c. 1 we read that Paul goes to
Then we find
Antioch accompanied
by Demas and Hermogenes.
a sentence with a number of variant readings which reads according
"But Paul looking unto the goodness of Christ
to Lipsius-Bonnet :
only, did them no evil, but loved them well, so that he tried to
make sweet to them all the words of the Lord (and of the teaching
and the explanation
of the Gospel) and of the birth and resurrection
25 See Schmidt-Schubart,

o.c., p. 101.

14
of the Beloved and related unto them word by word the great
works of Christ, how they were revealed unto him". Probably
it
to
the
words
"and
not
of
the
is
put
necessary
teaching ...
Gospel"
between brackets, but the words "of the Gospel" must be considered
and
secondary, since they are omitted in some Greek manuscripts
is that all our manuscripts
the Coptic text. More important
apart
from the Greek G, the Syriac and one Latin manuscript
add: on
.lx paeiaq (zijq naeOE'Vov in M and Copt.) xai dx or,78'eua-co; bavib.
This last part which is accepted by C. Schmidt and L. Vouaux,26
is identical to III 5 : "that our Lord Christ was born of Mary, of
the seed of David". In both cases the words are directed against
those who deny the resurrection
of the flesh. It is difficult to say
definite
the
about
relation
between the two passages.
anything
This especially because we do not know the original reading of the
Acts of Paul. It seems as if the sentence beginning with 5-rt dx
has been added to 6ti7yel-to in a rather careless way. If this is true
the correspondence
seems to have influenced the Acts of Paul.
But because we are dealing with a variant reading it can not be
made out whether the addition goes back to the original author
or to a later copyist.
Of more importance
are some parallels in the Greek papyrus8
find a sermon of Paul during his stay in
On
we
fragments.
p.
Puteoli. In this sermon Paul tells how often Israel has been saved
from the hands of the lawless ones, but also how often they have
lost their heritage. For this reason one has to be more steadfast
than they have been. In this passage we find some parallels with
III. The first one reads (p. 8, 16-21): "In addition to this He sent
prophets to proclaim our Lord Christ Jesus. In their turn (? xaza
they received lot and part (xhijeov sal a8etaao'v) of the
Spirit of Christ. And after having suffered much they were killed
by the people. Since they fell away from the living God in accordance with their desires (xaza zas dm0vpiaq) they lost the eternal
The parallel passage in III 9-11 reads: "For this reason
heritage".
God of all, the almighty,.who
made heaven and earth, has sent
to the Jews in the first place (nednot lovoaOl) prophets in order
to withdraw
(them) from the sins. This, because he liked to save
26 Schmidt, Acta Pauli,
Leipzig 1904, p. 27-28, and L. Vouaux, Les
Actes de Paul, Paris 1913, p. 146-148.

15
the house of Israel. He divided the Spirit of Christ (psoiuaq ) and
the infallible religion
sent it into the prophets
who proclaimed
during long times. Now, the ruler (dgzcov) who was unrighteous
and who liked to be God, put his hand on them and bound all
flesh according to his desire".
Without any doubt some relation exists, but we wonder of what
In both
nature. First of all we like to point to some discrepancies.
passages the prophets have to do the same things. In III it is said
that they have to withdraw the Israelites from sin and that they
have to teach them the true religion. In the Acts they have to
proclaim Christ. It is, however, possible that the word "religion"
and that it also includes the
(0sou#sia) has a wider meaning
said.
of Christ, but it is not explicitly
proclamation
xal psoiupdq
An other deviation is the use of the words
which is a well known biblical expression (cf. Deut. 10, 9; 12, 12;
14, 27, 29; Acts 8, 21; Col. 1, 12 and Hebr. 2, 4). In the Acts we
find the word yEgt'aa;. In the Acts of Paul the words xaTd T;w
have been added to the text. These words can be translated
by
In the last
to order".
"each in his turn" but also by "according
case the prophets are among those who received the Holy Spirit.
It may be that this passage has been inspired by the words 7ea')-Cotg
iov8aiocs in III 9. In the Acts we see that the people killed the
with Acts 7, 52. In III 11the
which is in accordance
prophets
for the killing of the prophets.
devil is responsible
Finally we
find in the Acts the words xa-ra zdq dm0vpiaq with regard to the
with regard to the
Jews. In III 11 we find the words
can raise difficulties as appears from
devil. The words ?OOs
the translation
in B : in concupientia,
L2 : voluptatibus.
Ephrem:
"he bound by human desires", and Arm.: "by sin". We can not
exclude the possibility,
however, that these variant readings are
due to the influence of the text of the Acts of Paul.
,
The result is that it is impossible to say in which way the passages
on the corre- I v
are related. It may be that the Acts are dependent
but no convincing
proof exists.
spondence,
The second parallel is 8, 25-29: "And you received the Word:
in the end of times into the flesh,
God sent a Spirit of strength
that is into Mary the Galilean according to the prophetic word,
which was born by her as a fruit of the body (8 c/?/uo<po?6? /\ ...Y)

16
until she gave birth and brought forth Jesus Christ ...".
In III
12-13 we find : "The almighty
God, because He is righteous and
He did not like to destroy his own work xa-r,-'7rEavE7vejaa bid nveos
that in the passage
Maev 'd)v yaAtAat"av". It is remarkable
of the Acts this part is called Ao"Yog. This means that we are dealing
with a definite kerygma. It might be that that the author alludes
because the remarks
to the correspondence.
This in particular
In this address Paul speaks
about the birth of Christ are irrelevant.
about Jesus who proclaimed the coming kingdom for which reason
man has to flee for the darkness.
A close relation can be seen between this passage and III. We
have already pointed to the word "the Galilean". The correspondence, however, shows the words bid 7voo"g and the Acts of Paul
The words bid 7rveo'g are not often met in relation with
occur.27 It is possible that
Christ's birth, but similar expressions
It is, however, also possible
,d IAHYPOZ goes back to 4 YNAMEQZ.
that we have to prefer the more difficult reading and that the
author of the Acts of Paul altered an already existing text.
with regard to the relation
our remarks
between
Concluding
,
and
the
Acts
of
we
that
there
the
Paul,
correspondence
may say
are some reasons to suppose that the author of the Acts incordoes
porated an existing writing into his work. The correspondence
not fit into the Acts as a whole and some passages in the Acts
On
seem to go back to similar passages in the correspondence.
the other hand we were able to point to some passages in the
which were influenced by the Acts after the moment
correspondence
was added to the Acts of Paul.
when the correspondence
7.

AN EXPLANATION OF THE CORRESPONDENCE

Very often the correspondence

taken from the Pauline epistles.

has been influenced by passages

For this reason it is remarkable

27 Cf. E. A. Budge, Legends ofour Lady Mary...

f rom the Ethiopic
Manuscripts, Oxford-London 1933, p. 116: "How couldst thou carry and
contain Him, the Fire that could do all things ...",
p. 108: "And Mary
answered and said unto the angel, 'Thou art fire, and thine apparel is coals
of fire; frighten me not, 0 fire..."',
p. 119: "Thine honourable appearance,
and Thy awesome announcement, and Thy burning fire ... I cannot gainI am a child, and a woman and unable to receive fire".
say...

17
that in both letters we find the simple zaiesw in the praescript.
In this respect the correspondence
is in agreement with the epistles
from
the
one
to
the Philippians),
which also
of Ignatius
(apart
do not give more than Jr l7:azaiesw.
The names Simon and Cleobius, are also known from Eusebius,
H. E. IV 22, 5. It appears that these names were connected with
In the Dida8calia and Constituheretics in the time of Hegesippus.
tiones Apostolicae (VI 8, 1) we meet them again. Here Simon is
identified
with Simon Magus. These writings know about them
(VI 10, 1) : Et erat q?cidem illis omnibus aequaliter lex, ut Lege et
Prophetis non utccntr et ut omnipotentem Deum blasphem[czr]ent et
resurrectionem non credant. It is possible that this information
goes
back to the correspondence.
Anyway, we may be sure that these
two persons were supposed to be two notable heretics.
We have already spoken about the position of Paul in the correThis position is in agreement with what we find about
spondence.
the twelve apostles and Paul in the early church.
The christological
ideas of the author are difficult to grasp. We
or "Geistchristologie",
might speak of a "pneumatic
christology"
but it is hazardous to go any further. We are able to point to III 5,
where we read that Jesus Christ was born of Mary ...
of the Holy
III
it
that
to
where
is
said
the
received
10,
parts (
Spirit,
prophets
of the Spirit of Christ, and III 13, where it is said that the Spirit
was sent to Mary. These passages do not help us very much in
the author's
ideas. They can easily be
determining
christological
the
influence
of
the
New
Testament.
explained
by
More important
is the way in which the epistle writes about
the false teachings.
Here we find :
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

'
One must not use the prophets,
'
God is not almighty,
There is no resurrection
of the flesh,
'
God did not create man,
The Lord did not come into the flesh, nor was born of Mary,
The world is not of God, but of angels.

We see that these are negative statements

only. Nothing
about the doctrine of the heresy. We also miss anything
the death of Christ.

is said
about

18
With help
each part.

of the

summary

given

above

we are

going

into

a.

The Prophets
In his commentary
Ephrem says that the false teachers rejected
the prophets, but accepted the gospel. This means that, according
to Ephrem,
one accepted the New Testament,
but rejected the
Old Testament.
with III 36: "And if someThis is in agreement
body keeps to this rule which has been received from the blessed
and the holy gospel, he will receive his reward".
The
prophets
word "prophets"
circumscribes
the Old Testament,
like Irenaeus
in adv. Haer. II 27 : Universae Scripturae et Prophetiae et Evangelia.
For this reason we find in III that the prophets
received parts
of the Spirit of Christ.
We know of many heretics who rejected the Old Testament.
We
to
but
we
also
that
and
Basilides
know
Simon
Marcion,
may point
believed that the prophets
were inspired
by the angels who
created the world (Ir. I 23, 3 and I 24). According to Saturninus
the prophets are partly belonging to the devil partly to the angels
who created the world (Ir. I 24, 2). The rejection of the Old Testament is not typically
did not reject it
gnostic, since Valentinus
made use of the Old Testament
(Ir. I 7, 3) and Bardaisan
(EpiIII 12, 82,
Haer. 26, 6). According to Clement, Stro.
phanius,
Tatian attributed
the law to an other god.28
It is worth while to see that it is usually said that the prophets
were inspired by the creator of the world. This means that they
were not able to prophesy about Christ.
Thus one was able to
and Christ. The
between the prophets
point to a discontinuity
first were inspired by the creator, the second by the true God.
The correspondence
rejects this idea by stating that God, the
did
not
creator,
only send the prophets to the Jews, but also that
He gave them parts of the Spirit of Christ that they were able to
teach the true religion (III 9-10). Here we see the close connexion
between God-creator-prophets-Jesus
Christ.
The ideas of the correspondence
are wholly in agreement
with
what is found in the early church. Already in I Petr. 1, 11 it is
28 See R. Liechtenhan,
1901, p. 54-68.

Die 0?'eM6cM'M? im Gnosticismus, Gottingen

19
said that Christ works in the prophets.
The same opinion is often
met in Tertullian
13
29
Ir.
IV 20, 4 and 33, 9). Of
cf.
(de praescr.
some importance
is Ignatius,
.Magn. 8, 2, according to whom the
with Christ and were persecuted
for
prophets lived in accordance
that reason. Again we see that only one God witnessed both in
the prophets and in Christ. This means that the prophets
could
not have been inspired by the devil. For this reason we find in
III 11: "The archoon because he is unrighteous
and because he
liked to be God killed them (sc. the prophets) and bound all flesh
from
the deviation
to his will". Now we understand
according
where it is said that men killed the prophets
the New Testament
likes to
(cf. Mt 5, 12, Lk 11, 47, Acts 7, 52). The correspondence
show that the ruler of the world cannot possibly be the same
one as he who sent the prophets.
b.

The Almighty

God

In his commentary
Ephrem writes that according to the false
teaching the God who inspired the prophets, is not almighty. This
is true, because it is obviously meant that the God of the Old
Testament
is not almighty. In early Christian literature we discern
that God being creator is the almighty one. Theophilus,
ad AutoI
that
God
is
because
He
is
the
master
4, says
lycum
almighty,
all
and
of
because the creation is his work.30 In the struggle against
those who leave the world to another God, the word "almighty"
is often used. Irenaeus writes that God can not be called almighty
if there are two Gods (II 1, 5 and II 6, 2). The same we see in Cyrillus
of Jerusalem
Cat. 8, 3 and Origen de Princ. I 2, 10. For this reason
we wonder whether the heretics themselves
said that God is not
It is very well possible that this is a conclusion drawn
almighty.
by the opponents.
In the answer the word "almighty"
is used twice. In the first
11
in
next
vs.
above
and
after
the passage about the
place
quoted
29 The text reads : id Verbum filium ejus appellatum in nomine Dei varie
visum a patriarchis, in prophetis semper auditum, postremo delatum ex spiritu
patris Dei et virtute in virginem Mariam, carnem factum irr, utero ejus et ex
ea natum egisse Iesum Christum.
30 Cf. F. Kattenbusch, Das apostolische Symbol II, Leipzig 1894, p.520534.

20
archoon. We read: "The almighty God, because He is righteous and
because He did not like to destroy his work, had the Spirit come
down upon Mary the Galilean by way of fire, in order that by the
same flesh in which the evil one reigned, since it got lost, the
evil one was defeated and was convinced that he is no God". Here
again we see the relation between God the creator and God the
Because he is the creator he saves the world and the
almighty.
flesh. God being the creator has to be a Saviour. The author of
the correspondence
says that it was necessary for Christ to come
into the flesh in order to save the flesh. In this way we get the
relation between God being the creator of the flesh and God being
the Saviour of the flesh. In anti-gnostic
literature
we often see
that one points to Jesus' healings in order to show that God is
willing to save the body. Thus we find in Clement, Strom. III 104:
0VZt 0 aWTir wanEr TiVVVZI)V,OVTWbO xat To' a(oaa ca?to TWV
ist der erste,
and in Ephrem,
adv. Haer. 43, 10: "'Tadelenswert
der den Korper erschuf'.
auch
sein
Arzt
...
Unser Herr
(Dann)
fand einen blinden Korper und gab ihm das Licht".31
c.

The Resurrection

of the

I'lesh

In the New Testament

we find some who deny the resurrection
of the flesh (I Cor. 15, 12, II Tim. 2, 18, cf. Acts 17, 32). Here
we are dealing with an isolated opinion. We do not know whether
with regard to the doctrine
of
this idea had its consequences
In Polycarpus,
creation and the christology.
Phil. 7, things are
different. Here we find some who deny that Christ came into the
flesh and those who deny the resurrection
of the flesh. We often
find the same opinion in early christian literature:
II Clem. 9, 1,
4
I
I 10, 1; I 23, 5
Dial. 80,
Ir.
Justinus
22, 4; 27, 3 (Marcion)
de resurr. carnis.
(Simon Magus) and Tertullian,
In the answer we see that Jesus has come into the flesh to save
all flesh (III 6 and 16). The idea that Christ had to come into the
flesh to save the flesh is well known (cf. I Clem. 49, 1, II Clem.
9, 4 and Barn. 5, 6). At the end of the epistle we see some proofs
31 See E. Beck, Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers, Hymnen contra Haereses,
in: Corp. Script. Christ. Orient. 169 (Syr.) and 170 (transl.), Louvain 1957,
p. 172 (Syr.) and p. 153 (transl.).

21
of the resurrection,
which were obviously inspired by the preaching
of the early church. The seed clothed with a body we find in I
Cor. 15, 37 and I Clem. 24, 5, the example of Jonah in Mt 12, 40
and Tertullian,
de resurr. carnis 32, and the history of Elisah's
in
Constitutiones
Apostolicae VI 30, 5.
grave
d.

The Creation

o f Man

With (d) we can combine (f), in which is spoken about the world
which is not of God, but of angels. Under (a) we have already
dealt with examples speaking about the world being created by
angels. In III it is not explicitly said that the world has been created
it is said that God created the flesh. The
by God. Nevertheless
on
the
creation
of the flesh was caused by the author's
emphasis
wish to emphasize
Christ's coming into the flesh. If the author
he actually means the flesh (III 13).
speaks about God's
e.

Jesus

was born o Mary

In the New Testament

we find already that Christ has not come
in the
into the flesh (I John 4, 2-3 and II John 7). Especially
of
and
this
is
often
Polycarpus
subject
epistles
Ignatius
spoken
about. (Pol., Phil. 7, Ign., Trall. 9, Jlagn. 11, and Smyrna 1, 1-2).
that the correspondence
deals
Ephrem writes in his commentary
with the followers of Bardaisan. They say that Christ went through
from her. The same we find in
Mary without receiving anything
about Valentinus
Tertullian
(adv. Valent. 27, cf. also Ir. I 7, 2).
makes a difference
between
Marcion
and Basilides,
Tertullian
and Valentinus
and
according to whom Christ was an appearance,
that
was
clothed
in
human
who
Christ
flesh
supposed
Apelles,
(Tert., de carne Christi 1, de resurr. carnis 2, cf. Ir. I 24, 4, about
In the correspondence
this subject is not dealt with.
Basilides).
to see that in III it is accepted that Christ
It is remarkable
was born of Mary without evidence. This belief goes back to the
ones who were with Jesus (vs. 4-5). We are obviously dealing with
a very old article of faith : "And any spirit, who does not confess..."
(John 4, 3 and Polyc., Phil. 7, 1).
We see that not only the false teachings but also the refutations
It is worth while to
are known from ancient Christian literature.
see that the false teaching has been rejected in one connected way.

22
The starting
point is that Christ has come into the flesh. Next
it is said that therefore the flesh will be saved (III 4-8).
This again
proves that God created the flesh. This is corroborated
by the
who
of
the
of
Christ
and
were
possessed parts
Spirit
prophets
the
ruler
of
this
But
some
similar
world.
persecuted
by
again,
de resurrectione
ideas we find in Tertullian,
carnis 2.
Finally we have to deal with the nature of the false reaching.
One has pointed to Bardaisan
(Vetter and Ephrem in his commenSimon
tary),
Magus (Muretow) and Apelles (Rist). We reject the
idea that Bardaisan is meant. He did not reject the Old Testament
and he did not teach a physical dualism. We must, however, not
and his followers.
forget that a difference exists between Bardaisan
At a later stage we see that in Bardaisan's
doctrine a sharp division
knew Bardaisan's
is made between
body and soul.32 Ephrem
in this form. For this reason Ephrem
doctrine
was justified in
that
the
was
written
the
followers
of Barepistle
saying
against
a
time
well
The
daisan.
however, goes back to
correspondence,
before 170. At that time Bardaisan
(154-223/3) was still unknown.
The idea that the letter has been written against Marcion has
one difficulty,
since Marcion did not teach that the world was
created by angels. The doctrine of Apelles, a pupil of Marcion,
with the false teaching. But also
seems to be more in agreement
here we do not find that the world was created by angels. Tertullian,
de praescr. haer. 34, de cczrne Christi 8, de anima 23, only knows
that according to Appelles the world was created by a fiery angel.
The opinion that the correspondence
was directed against Simon
that the
is
attractive.
He
taught,
according to Irenaeus,
Magus
angels created the world (I 23, 3-4), that the prophets were inspired
of the body took place at the
by the angels and the resurrection
to
moment that man was baptized.
Nevertheless
it is hazardous
was written against his ideas only.
think that the correspondence
This means that we are not able to say that the correspondence
kind of heresy. The correspondwas written against one particular
ence probably describes a tendency in the early church. This ten32 See H. H. Schaeder, Bardesanes von Edessa in der Uberlieferung der
griechischen und syrischen Kirche, in : Zeitschr. Kirchengesch. 51 (1932),
p. 21-74.

23
in Asia Minor as appears from
dency can be found especially
This is in agreement
with the place were the Acts of
Ignatius.
Paul were written.
We may only say that the tendency
is not
a
"doctrine"
can
be
found
in
the
well
known
which
yet
gnostic
systems.
Utrecht,

Joh.

Wagenaarkade

89